Instagram seller ordered to pay LV $200k over fake goods

Uncertain if damages will be recovered as defendant ghosted High Court proceedings

- Toh Yong Chuan

An Instagram seller who sold fake Louis Vuitton items as authentic and ghosted the High Court during court proceedings has been ordered to pay $200,000 in damages to the French luxury fashion house for trademark infringements.

Mr Ng Hoe Seng, operating under Instagram accounts "emcase_sg" and "emcrafts_sg", sold counterfeit goods such as phone cases, passport covers, card holders and purses through the social media platform. The fakes were passed off as genuine and sold at a fraction of the price of the real items — a fake passport cover, for instance, was priced at $159, compared with $560 to $945 for the real thing.

Louis Vuitton Malletier (LVM) discovered the infringements in July 2022 and conducted a sting operation. A representative made test purchases worth $2,100 from Mr Ng's first Instagram account "emcase_sg". LVM confirmed the goods were counterfeit and issued a cease-and-desist letter in March 2023.

Instead of stopping, Mr Ng shifted operations to a new Instagram account, "emcrafts_sg", and resumed sales. To catch him again, an LVM representative made a second undercover purchase. The company later filed a lawsuit in August 2023. Mr Ng ignored the proceedings and did not appear in court.

On Nov 30, 2023, the High Court ruled in LVM's favour and went on to assess damages.

Computing its damages, LVM said it should be awarded $4.84 million in damages but claimed $2.9 million against Mr Ng — based on 29 infringing acts at $100,000 each, the statutory cap. But Justice Dedar Singh Gill disagreed with the claims.